Proportional reasoning in the laboratory: an intervention study in vocational education

Based on insights into the nature of vocational mathematical knowledge, we designed a computer tool with which students in laboratory schools at senior secondary vocational school level could develop a better proficiency in the proportional reasoning involved in dilution. We did so because we had identified computations of concentrations of chemical substances after dilution as a problematic area in the vocational education of laboratory technicians. Pre- and post-test results indeed show that 47 students aged 16–23 significantly improved their proportional reasoning in this domain with brief instruction time (50–90 min). Effect sizes were mostly large. The approach of using a visual tool that foregrounds mathematical aspects of laboratory work thus illustrates how vocational mathematical knowledge can be developed effectively and efficiently.     

物种濒危等级的划分和濒危机制研究进展

生物多样性保护的关键之一是保护物种。本文介绍了国际自然及自然资源保护联盟（IUCN）物种濒危等级、《濒危野生动植物种国际贸易公约》（CITES）附录等级和中国濒危物种等级等几个物种濒危等级标准。人类活动是造成生物多样性急剧丧失的主要原因。遗传学因素与物种濒危和灭绝也有密切关系。大多数物种的濒危是一个或多个因素共同作用的结果。     

濒危植物繁育特征及致危因素研究进展

本文综合介绍了11种濒危植物繁育特征的濒危机制,提出了改善濒危植物繁育系统最有效的办法是增加基因流、提高种子质量和产量及促进种质更新,并对目前国内濒危植物繁育系统的濒危机制研究提出了建议。     

New assessment process in an introductory undergraduate physics laboratory: an exploration on collaborative learning

A new team learning assessment process was designed and tested in a first-year university physics laboratory class. The assessment process was designed to provide a strong incentive for students to cooperate and feel responsible for each other’s learning and fostering a sense of collaboration rather than competition. Specifically, the new assessment process involves randomly dividing students into teams of four to work on a physics experiment and, at the end of the laboratory session, randomly selecting only one team member to carry out a post-laboratory session performance task. The results indicate that learning outcomes were not compromised in the new assessment process and that peer instruction was employed to a greater extent compared to our standard process. Student responses from a post-assessment survey revealed that 76% of students considered our new assessment process to be fair, whereas 57% of students felt our standard process was fair. The new assessment process used in this study led to a 75% reduction in grading duties – an advantage for large class management.     

Assessment of the laboratory learning environment in an inquiry-oriented chemistry laboratory in Arab and Jewish high schools in Israel

An inquiry-oriented laboratory in chemistry was integrated into the chemistry curriculum in Jewish high schools in Israel, and after a short period was also implemented in Arab sector. In this study, we investigated the effect of culture on the perceptions of laboratory classroom learning environments by comparing the perceptions of Arab and Jewish high school students who learned the inquiry-oriented chemistry laboratory. The learning environment is influenced by student-teacher relationship and we thought that this relation is an important issue in the inquiry laboratory and is different between the Arab and Jewish populations. However, until recently, the Arab teachers have remained in the centre of the learning process and their students perceived them as the main source of knowledge and information. In this study, we used both quantitative and qualitative methods to determine whether the laboratory learning environment was different in Arab and Jewish classes that learned in the inquiry-oriented laboratory in chemistry. A statistical comparison of Arab and Jewish inquiry groups revealed significant differences in their actual and preferred perceptions. From the qualitative part of the study, we found that the teachers and students from the Arab and Jewish sectors were statistically similar in the categories that we measured during the inquiry phase, but they were statistically different during the pre-inquiry phase of the laboratory. From the interviews with the teachers and the students, we found that there were differences in the student-teacher relationship between the two sectors.     

Facilitating agency: the change laboratory as an intervention for collaborative sustainable development in higher education

To cope with the rapidly changing higher education climate, teachers need agency to act proactively in initiating and steering changes in practice. This paper describes an academic development activity in the form of a Change Laboratory, an intervention method based on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, to facilitate agency among teachers. The results of the study indicate that transformative agency emerges when teachers are given the opportunity to analyse, envision, and redesign their practice collaboratively. This has implications for academic development, suggesting that activities facilitating discussion, analysis, and criticism of current practices are needed to support the development of agency.     

Beverage-agarose gel electrophoresis: an inquiry-based laboratory exercise with virtual adaptation

A wide range of literature and experience has shown that teaching methods that promote active learning, such as inquiry-based approaches, are more effective than those that rely on passive learning. Gel electrophoresis, one of the most common laboratory techniques in molecular biology, has a wide range of applications in the life sciences. As such, we chose it as a platform to expose high school and undergraduate students to the active process of scientific inquiry in general, while specifically teaching electrophoresis. First, we optimized DNA electrophoresis in the laboratory by using common beverages instead of standard media (e.g., Tris-based media). Second, we adapted this laboratory process of progressive optimization to a Web-based format in which students had to achieve all the same steps of optimization by performing serial electrophoreses. And third, we evaluated the use of this entirely Web-based virtual laboratory exercise in high school and undergraduate biology courses. Students learned fundamental and practical principles of electrophoresis, while experiencing the essential inquiry-based process of optimizing a technique, and they also enjoyed it. Our findings provide a readily accessible, inexpensive, and intriguing technique for teaching electrophoresis and the progressive optimization of a laboratory technique.     

Physical Risk-taking: Dangerous or endangered?

Young children's enthusiasm for undertaking challenging physical activities is described, and examples are given of physical risk-taking by 4 year olds and by younger children. Having acknowledged the prevalence of such play, three emerging questions are discussed: what are acceptable physical challenges for 4 year olds, how can we juggle the need for challenge with the increasingly restrictive safety requirements, and what may be the wider implications of restricting children's access to physical challenges?     

Instructional efficiency of different discussion approaches in an outreach laboratory: Teacher-guided versus student-centered

Given the rapid development of modern biotechnology, attention to socioscientific issues in educational contexts is crucially important to support students in becoming responsible citizens. The authors' research focused on the impact of discussing socioscientific issues during biology lessons under 3 different treatments (teacher guided, student centered, text only), comparing these treatments with regard to cognitive achievement, cognitive load, and instructional efficiency. The biology lessons were part of an educational intervention with Bavarian 10th-grade students (N = 583) in an out-of-school laboratory on plant genetic engineering. The teacher-guided group performed significantly better regarding knowledge increase, while the cognitive load of the student-centered group was significantly higher. Accordingly, teacher-guided discussion led to the highest instructional efficiency, suggesting an enhanced cognitive achievement through the teacher's guidance. However, a student-centered approach allows students to contribute more of their own opinions, making further research in this area desirable. Finally, we discuss potential implications for teaching and teacher education.     

对语言实验室开放的研究

语言实验室在外语学习中发挥着重要作用。本文通过语言实验室开放的实践,分析了开放语言实验室的意义、理论基础、实施和管理,以期加强这方面的交流,更好地为学生服务。     

研究生参与本科实验教学发挥重要作用

实验教学是培养学生实践能力、创新精神和科学素质的重要手段，在读研究生在实验教学环节中可发挥重要作用，可以从事实验教学和实验室管理工作。该文着重探讨在高校实验教学中，研究生参与助教助管工作的必要性和迫切性，以及研究生如何做好助教助管工作。     

Students' perceptions of an innovative university laboratory program

This paper presents some of the findings of a naturalistic study of a first year university biology laboratory. We report on the affective outcomes for a field trip and a practical exercise that incorporated innovations aimed at increasing the scientific realism and students' responsibility in the learning process. Concern with assessment procedures and a perceived lack of teaching support dominated outcomes for students. Feelings of confusion, lack of satisfaction and hostility were evoked. Recognition of the need to foster greater student input into the learning process is commended, but this paper raises issues about the strategies utilised. Specializations: conceputual understanding in biology students, laboratory work. Specializations: curriculum and assessment in science, teacher Education, metacognition.     

濒危语言蔡家话量词系统探析

蔡家话是中国新发现濒危语言,其量词可分为名量词、动量词、准量词等.蔡家话量词以单音节为主,没有音变现象,没有前缀;具有体词性特征,具有别类作用,其中的"量名"结构具有定指性特征,部分量词可以重叠;要与其他词类结合,构成"数词+量词"、"名词+数词+量词"、"代词+名词+数词+量词"等结构后才能充当主语、宾语、定语、状语、补语等句法成分.     

On understanding variability in data: a study of graph interpretation in an advanced experimental biology laboratory

Data analysis is constitutive of the discovery sciences. Few studies in mathematics education, however, investigate how people deal with (statistical) variability and statistical variance in the data to be interpreted. And even fewer, if any, focus on the uncertainties with which scientists wrestle before they are confident in the data they produce. The purpose of this study is to exhibit the work of coping with variability in one advanced research laboratory, as exemplified in a typical data analysis session. The study shows that when the scientists are confronted with novel data, their understanding of the variability does not arise in straightforward fashion, and a lot of normally invisible (interactional) work is required to constitute understanding. Tentative conclusions are provided for the implication to mathematics education.     

造成延津二夹弦剧种濒危的原因探讨

在经济快速发展、文化日新月异的今天,人们的生活方式、娱乐方式越来越多元化,但对中华民族传统音乐元素——戏曲文化的传承和发展的关注却越来越少了,有很多小剧种已经濒灭,延津二夹弦剧种正处于濒危的边缘。作者通过大量的调查、翻阅和整理资料,对延津二夹弦剧种的发展历史、艺术风格进行了深层次的研究与剖析。